Dark Horse Comcast Surprises With Time Warner Cable Deal

But the dark horse suitor Comcast Corp. got Time Warner Cable to do something Charter never did – agree to a deal. To get there, Comcast was willing to bid $158.82 per share in an all-stock deal — about $26 a share above Charter’s bid.

Charter and Time Warner had been publicly wrangling about the terms of a potential deal for months.

Charter offered to acquire Time Warner Cable for $132.50 a share last month. Time Warner Cable said it would only consider a deal of $160 a share. Charter this week nominated 13 people for Time Warner Cable’s board in an effort to bring it to the table.

In the end, Comcast’s bid comes much closer to Time Warner Cable’s asking price.

Time Warner Cable’s shares closed at $135.31 per share. This deal represents a 17% premium to the cable company’s closing price.

Time Warner Cable’s stock has run up more than 40% since rumors of a potential buyout by Charter Communications surfaced eight months ago.

A merger between Comcast, the owner of NBC Universal, and Time Warner Cable would combine the number one and two cable companies in the U.S.

Time Warner Cable had long seen Comcast as a preferred merger partner. Last year, Time Warner Cable approached Comcast about a deal, hoping to ward off Charter. The two companies had talks off and on. But until a week ago there were signs that Comcast was leaning towards striking a deal with Charter instead.

Comcast and Charter were in talks about a deal where it would endorse Charter’s bid in exchange for an agreement where it would buy some East Coast Time Warner Cable systems.